


Spoiled Rotten

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [103]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Clint Barton & Tony Stark Friendship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Tony Stark, Loki and Phil are Bros, Sarah isn't awful, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, fight me, just misguided
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 23:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: Loki and Tony decided to spend another day at the park.ORThe one where Phil is a bro.





	Spoiled Rotten

Tony and Clint were playing at the park on Saturday morning, Phil and Loki watching not far away on a bench. The two families had been getting together twice a week since the cookout, both for the boys to get to know each other and their fathers to chat.

“It’s been a month now, how’s Tony adjusting to his new home?” asked Phil.

“Alright,” said Loki. “School will be starting soon, so I’m hoping he will make some more friends.”

“Is he not making any friends at day care?” asked Phil.

“I work from home right now,” said Loki. “As soon as school starts back up I’ll switch to the new office, but I arranged it so we could move to give Tony time to adjust before school starts.”

“May I ask you about Tony?” asked Phil after a few moments of watching Clint show Tony how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.

“What about him?”

“How did you become his father? I understand if I’m overstepping, you just don’t find a lot of single fathers who have adopted and I’m curious.”

Loki was silent for so long that Phil thought he wasn’t going to answer.

“I always wanted to be a father,” said Loki after a while. “I’m gay, so I knew I’d have to take a non-traditional route to get there. After college, I decided to start looking into adoption. It turned out that a single man adopting was a long shot in most agencies, so spoke with a few social workers that I had met in college to see about becoming a foster parent. One of them happened to be Tony’s case worker. We weren’t good friends by any extent of the imagination – barely even acquaintances in fact – but she was having trouble placing him in a home for long. With her help I started the process to become a foster parent. During the time it took me to be cleared, Tony had bounced from one shitty home to the next. All the good foster parents only want good kids. The ones willing to house troubled kids are few and far between and the ones from those who are actually good are even fewer and farther between, it seems. I got Tony about a year ago and the adoption was finalized almost two months ago.”

“Did you know right away that you wanted to adopt him?”

“Yes,” said Loki with a small smile. “The moment I met him I knew. He was small and quiet and so incredibly lost, but he had a smile that lit up my soul, so here we are.”

“Here we are,” said Phil with a grin. “It was the same with Clint. Well, it was similar. I knew he was supposed to be mine when we met, though that was at the orphanage.”

For a time, the two watched the boys play together. Clint and Tony got along well and after that first time meetings had had little conflict.

“Sarah and Steve are approaching,” said Phil suddenly, looking off to the side of the park.

“That’s fine,” said Loki calmly.

Steve ran to the boys to play with them while Sarah made her way over to the men. She joined them on the bench sitting perpendicular to them.

“Hello,” said Sarah with a smile.

“Hello,” said Phil.

“Hello,” said Loki, not removing his eyes from the boys playing together.

“School will be starting soon,” said Sarah brightly. “Steve is so excited. How old did you say Tony is?”

“I didn’t,” said Loki. “But he’s seven.”

“So he’ll be a few grades below Steve and Clint,” said Sarah. “Is he going to attend Shield SAS?”

“I have enrolled him there, yes,” said Loki.

“Then he can walk with Steve and Clint and the rest of the neighbor kids. How wonderful.”

“I’ll probably walk him there myself,” said Loki. “But we’ll see. He may be ready to walk there without me by October.”

“Oh, you don’t have to take time out of your day for that,” laughed Sarah. “It’s perfectly safe. All of the kids walk together and it’s only –“

“You love your son, right?” said Loki, suddenly.

“Of course,” said Sarah, blinking in surprise.

“And you will always do what is best for him?”

“Yes.”

“Then understand that I would do the same for my son. And it is not your place to say if I should or should not walk my kid to school. It’s not your place to decide if I’m spoiling him. It’s not your place to try and force me or him into doing something just because you deem it right. It’s not your place.”

Loki got up and walked over to check on the boys.

“You really need to stop thinking you know what’s best for everyone,” said Phil as Sarah sat there in shock. “Loki is doing a great job with Tony.”

“He’s spoiling the kid rotten,” said Sarah.

“Maybe Tony deserves it,” said Phil with a shrug. “But it’s still not your place to say. You don’t want people judging you because you are a single parent.”

“My husband died!”

“Do you know anything about Tony or Loki?”

“No?”

“Then why are you judging them? Ever since they moved in, you have done nothing but try and correct Loki’s parenting. You would never have done that if Loki was a woman. Admit it. You look down on him because he is a single dad.”

“Fine, I admit it,” said Sarah. “But I don’t look down on him like that, I just think he needs help.”

“From you?”

“Yes. It’s difficult as a single mom, I can’t even imagine how it would be as a single dad.”

“Okay, see, that Sarah, is looking down on him because he’s a single father. Which means you must look down on me as well.”

“Phil –“

“Steve is welcome to play with Clint but we are leaving now.”

Phil got up and joined Loki with the boys so Sarah would have time to think their conversation over.

“How about we go get some lunch?” said Phil with a smile. “I’m thinking pizza.”

“Yeah!” yelled Clint.

“That would be nice,” said Loki. “Tony?”

“I would like that,” said Tony with a bright smile.

“I’ll ask my mom,” said Steve, running off.

The men watched as Sarah and Steve spoke before Sarah marched away with Steve, Steve shooting sad looks back at them.

“Do I want to know?” asked Loki.

“She’ll get over it,” said Phil with a shrug. “Steve is a good kid, she loves him, she will get over it.”

Loki looked on as the pair disappeared, Steve seemingly arguing with his mom.

“I hope so.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well.....I just finished watching Game of Thrones for the first time. That was a lot of television for two and a half weeks.  
> Also, I love this little universe, I just had to expand.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
